William Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Hi All, I've always fantasized about having dual shocks on my WD21. If not important for the sake of off-road functionality, at least for the LOOKS of if Q: Can it be done? Q: Are the brackets available in the market or need to be fabricated? Q: Do you know anyone who did them with how to's and pics? William Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverton Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Everything is going to be custom... I'm not even sure how you would go about putting more than one shock on the front. the ONE shock tube hardly fits through the upper control arm. also, this is going to make your rig ride like it DOESN'T have a suspension. very very stiff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismothunder Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 1. Yes 2. your gonna have too fab it. 3. Not that I know of. Its gonna ride stiffer, not like its down on the bump stops but harsher then 1 shock. Why do you want duel shocks in front? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Posted December 1, 2011 Author Share Posted December 1, 2011 1. Yes 2. your gonna have too fab it. 3. Not that I know of. Its gonna ride stiffer, not like its down on the bump stops but harsher then 1 shock. Why do you want duel shocks in front? I just like the Dual Shock "Looks" and was under the impression that Dual shocks will give a smoother ride. I am obviously wrong about that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5523Pathfinder Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 IIRC, back in the day, the Jim Conner Racing suspension setup had dual front and rear shocks. I know its no longer available, but if a guy was good at fab, he could make is own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 (edited) I have the triple shock front and dual shock rear setup from my hardbody, the front used a shock hoop and the 2 shocks connected from the hoop to the top of the UCA (making them very short), the UCA had tabs on it with a thick spacer in the middle to seperate the 2 shocks, the stock shock remains in it's stock location. I never installed the shock hoops and they are in my storage waiting, LOL For the rear in the hardbody they had a bracket that mounted over the studs that the shock would normally go onto, the bracket than held the 2 shocks. Normally when running multiple shocks you can get certain shocks that are valved to be used in multiples. all these parts were from Jim Connor Racing. One of my never installed hoops painted in Nunya's favorite color: rear shock setup can be seen here: front triple shock setup can be seen here: Edited December 2, 2011 by ahardb0dy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nunya Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Wish I could dint that pic I have saved of the overkill rear shock setup... It brings the funny. (I'll update when I find it) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nefarious Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 triple shock front. wow... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY1PATH Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 yeah the Jim Conner setups were geared towards baja racing and hard hit landings. the Dual shocks mounted UP in the wheel well and attached to a Jim Conner UCA. After so many hits a shock heats up and becomes worthless until it cools so 2 or 3 shocks were used to increase the damping oil volume and distributing the load across 2 or 3 shocks reduced the heat of each individual shock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Posted December 2, 2011 Author Share Posted December 2, 2011 I take it that none of the JIM CONNER multiple-shock brackets are available nowadays can they still be sourced from somewhere? I also read that in the old days, NIZMO made multiple shock brackets for our WD21. I also reckon non of these are available nowadays. William Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Duals are nice but... If you already have new shocks and want to improve ride quality without spending too much money then look into fixing sway bar links and bushings and new coil springs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Posted December 2, 2011 Author Share Posted December 2, 2011 Well actually, The COILS are brand new (from 4x4Parts) providing the rear lift. The front end has been recently completely re-vamped with brand new RED bushings from ENERGY SUSPENSIONS (Sway Bar Links, Sway Bar Bushings, UCA Bushings, LCA Bushings, ...) The Rear Bushings are on my to-do list. I felt that the DUAL shocks will give me a softer ride. Right now the ride is kinda rough, not very stable on the Highway, and needs a lot of concentration to keep it steady. Probably due to the BIG BFG 33x12.5R15 running on the ultra WIDE MT 15x10! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 You can't get mush ride out of a WD21 Pathfinder. It's just not happening. The suspension is designed to perform off-road so it won't be as great on the road. I can explain why it rides bad compared to an average car (or even an R50 Pathfinder) as well but don't want to jack the thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 The truck shouldn't ride that bad even with the tires and wheels you are running, unless you have the torsion bars cranked up too much and they are sitting on the bumpstops, if that is the case you could install thinner bumpstops, but if the bars ARE cranked that much it will lead to other problems. If the torsion bars are not cranked a lot what shocks are you running now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewebster Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 If it is riding really poorly you might want to check all your suspension components. Mine is way better now that I replaced everything (including the shocks). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Posted December 3, 2011 Author Share Posted December 3, 2011 (edited) The truck shouldn't ride that bad even with the tires and wheels you are running, unless you have the torsion bars cranked up too much and they are sitting on the bumpstops, if that is the case you could install thinner bumpstops, but if the bars ARE cranked that much it will lead to other problems. If the torsion bars are not cranked a lot what shocks are you running now? Well during the BL, I installed a set of brand new RANCHO 9000X shocks: * Rancho RS999322 Shock (Front) * Rancho RS999112 Shock (Rear) The UCA's lower anchor is like ~2 inches away from the factory bump stop (which I plan to remove and replace with a low profile one from Energy Suspensions). I don't believe I am hitting the front bump stops while driving (Maybe if I am fast over speed bumps or pavement holes). The bad driving quality I am experiencing is a normal cruising speeds on the highway. the car does not feel very "safe". William Edited December 3, 2011 by William Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 So your saying the contact area of the upper control arm is sitting 2" above the bump stops? How close is the lower control arm to the bump stops? If I understand what you are saying there shouldn't be that much space between the UCA and the bump stop. While driving if you hit a bump, that pushes the control arms upward and if you have that much space between the UCA and it's bump stop than that means the lower control arm is practically sitting against it's bump stop which would make the ride feel rough as the lower control arm is hitting the bump stop. Of course if you drove into a hole the control arms would move downward until the UCA makes contact with it's bump stops. Not feeling safe on the highway? what do you mean by that? does the truck seem wobbly or like the steering is on the edge? If so you may need an alignment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Not feeling safe on the highway? what do you mean by that? does the truck seem wobbly or like the steering is on the edge? If so you may need an alignment. Yeah I am not sure what he's saying here. If all the bushings are good (especially the tension rod bushings) it should drive fairly smooth. An alignment might be a good idea too. What I'm saying is it will never drive as good as a car though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 (edited) Well he says he runs 33x12.5 tires. It's going to wander a little more than usual with them. Make sure your alignment is good. A steering damper may not be a bad idea either. Also make sure your front end (ball joints, tie rods, drag link, idler arm) are all tight. Also if you don't have a panhard bar drop bracket, your truck will always pull left and it feels really weird going over bumps and such because you always pull the wheel right a bit to compensate so the truck goes nuts on dips. Edited December 3, 2011 by adamzan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Posted December 4, 2011 Author Share Posted December 4, 2011 Well he says he runs 33x12.5 tires. It's going to wander a little more than usual with them. Make sure your alignment is good. A steering damper may not be a bad idea either. Also make sure your front end (ball joints, tie rods, drag link, idler arm) are all tight. Also if you don't have a panhard bar drop bracket, your truck will always pull left and it feels really weird going over bumps and such because you always pull the wheel right a bit to compensate so the truck goes nuts on dips. I might be slightly OFF on the dimensions I mentioned above (2"). I'll take a couple of photos with the wheel out with dimensions and show you. Maybe you can see a problem that I don't see in there. That will have to wait till I return home of course BTW, what is PAN HARD BAR DROP BRACKET? Is that a stock element or an aftermarket? William Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 It's an aftermarket part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Posted December 4, 2011 Author Share Posted December 4, 2011 It's an aftermarket part. What is it good for? And where can it be sourced? William Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY1PATH Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 (edited) What is it good for? And where can it be sourced? William Its to aid in centering the axle on lifed vehcles. Only consider one if you have 3" or more of suspension lift. Edited December 5, 2011 by MY1PATH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Posted December 5, 2011 Author Share Posted December 5, 2011 Its to aid in centering the axle on lifed vehcles. Only consider one if you have 3" or more of lift. Well I have a 3" SL + 3" BL. Where can I get one? How much does it cost? William Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY1PATH Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 purenissan.com and 4x4parts.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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